


December 16: the snowiest day

by dizzy



Series: 2017 (the darkest timeline) daily fic advent [16]
Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 20:26:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13038777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: prompt:all merry wants is to protect pippin, often from his own stupidness. but sometimes it's hard.





	December 16: the snowiest day

Merry wakes up on the kind of day that makes him not want to get out of his bed. He knows the moment his feet touch the ground he'll feel a chill that goes all the way to his bones, and the windows will show him a frosty scene. Even his breeches will be cold against his skin until the heat of his body warms them up, and really it might just be fine if he just takes his leave on the whole of the day and stays right here... and perhaps, if he's very clever, he can tempt Pippin into sharing the bed with him for most of those hours. 

"Merry! Merry!" He hears a happy voice calling out and the slap of feet against the floor. 

When he hears the creak of the heavy door opening, he wiggles his head up out of his mess of blankets. "What d'ya want?" He asks, voice scratchy with the disuse of sleep. 

"Merry, it's snowing out!" Pippin jumps like his pants are full of firecrackers and he can't keep himself still for it, hopping from one foot to the other and flailing his hands about. "It's snow, real snow!" 

Well, Merry thinks, that'd explain the unnecessary bite of the air even in their normally quite well-warmed home. He can tell from the excitement on Pippin's face that it's a battle he'll lose but he still gives it his all. "Best come back to bed then," Merry says, raising the blankets and patting the spot beside him. "Snow days are good days for lazing about." 

"But we never have snow days, Merry!" Pippin's voice is so earnest and jubilant. "I was barely up to your knee last time we had one, and all I remember is my mum not letting me go out in it. She said I'd lose all my toes and I was so scared I cried but the next day the white was turned to brown sludge and I went out and all the other tykes had been playing about and making snow trolls with stones for eyes! And I didn't get to, Merry, so I have to now, see!" 

Merry sighs a massive sigh, feeling the day slip away from him. 

*

He makes Pippin bundle up extra tight, because Pippin might be mostly grown but he's still foolhardy enough to run right outside in only his undershirt if he thought sparing time for more layers meant he'd miss out on some fun. 

He's doing up the buttons on Pippin's overcoat when Pippin reaches up and grasps the lapels on the one Merry is wearing. "I'm so glad we get to see the snow together," he says, eyes shining green and happy. "Doesn't it make it special, that we're together?" 

Merry, whose been complaining with every breath about how he's cold from the tips of his ears down to his toes, feels something deep in his chest melt at that. He secures the last button through it's slot and reaches up to push a mess of curls back from Pippin's face. "Of course," he says. "Things are always better together." 

*

Pippin makes his snow troll, with the stones for eyes, and a carrot for a nose that lasts all of an hour before he wants a snack and swipes it right back off the poor troll's face to have as a snack. 

"It's the biggest one, don't you think?" Pippin brags, patting a packed in bit of snow where Merry supposes it's rear would be. "I think it's the biggest." 

Merry does not point out that Pippin's twice the height of any of the children making them. 

* 

"We should have come inside an hour ago," Merry says, fussing in that way he can't help but fuss. "You can't speak for how your teeth are chattering, you goose!" 

Pippin makes a cross face at him. "I'm not a goose. You are." 

"Say that again without clickety clacking in your mouth," Merry challenges. 

Pippin sticks his tongue out - and then quickly pulls it back in with a full body shiver. 

"Oh, Pip." Merry sighs, and rubs Pippin's hands briskly between his own. "What am I going to do with you?" 

Pippin cases his chin down and his eyes up, using that voice he uses that he thinks will get him his way always. "A warm foot bath?" 

"Alright," Merry says. "But it's straight to bed after." 

Pippin's eyes crease at the corners with the size of his smile. "Alright, Merry. You went out into the snow just for me, so if that's what you really want I'll try to be a lazy lump just like you." 

"Who are you calling a lazy lump?" Merry asks, eyes narrowing. "Surely not the one that's going to be drawing your warm foot bath?" 

"Of course not," Pippin says, trying to look innocent and failing as he always does. "You must have heard me wrong. I said that I'll try to be a big strong hobbit like you. That is, unless my toes fall off. Merry, I'm _so_ cold still." 

"That's what I thought," Merry says, pulling Pippin in to smack a kiss right across his mouth. "Now this lazy lump is going to go start your water warming so your toes don't fall off while we're having a cuddle in bed later." 

*

It only gets colder as the light of the sun slips below the hills, but Merry doesn't mind. He's got exactly what he'd wanted, the fire in the hearth blazing and the warmth of someone well loved tucked in beside him.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [tumblr](http://alittledizzy.tumblr.com)! or [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/alittledizzy)! or don't! your choice! happy holidays!


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